Professional Development Phase Coach Billy Clarke was delighted the team have got off the mark after the Under-21s reigned 3-1 victors over QPR.
Finishes from Jack Leckie, Zane Myers and Pharrell Brown saw Conor Sellars’ side secure all three points in the Professional Development League at the MKM Stadium.
“I’m glad we won. Having lost three games on the spin as we have, it is important that we win; winning is a habit and it is what everyone wants to do,” said Clarke.
“We want to develop the boys to be winners, so it was really pleasing to get off the mark for the season and get our first three points.
“In the previous games, we were a bit passive and a bit static at times so to have that bit of aggression to run, play forward and play quicker passes was pleasing. To be two-nil up going in at half-time was nice.
“Obviously we knew QPR would want to come out quickly and the sending off has changed the game really. Overall, 3-1 and three points is what we wanted so we’re very pleased.”
Focusing on the goals, the first came from a set-play as Leckie rose highest to head home Noah Wadsworth’s corner. With Myers netting his first goal for the club since signing, Brown scored the pick of the goals with a stunning free-kick into the top corner.
A former striker himself in his playing days, Clarke was pleased with the quality of finishes, saying: “The boys work on set-plays. We have conceded from set-plays in the previous few games so it was really nice to score. Over the past couple of the seasons, we have been quite prolific from set-plays so it was nice to get off the mark in that account.
“For Zane to add the second, I think it was probably deserved going into half-time as we played some nice stuff and dominated the majority of the game. When you have players like Pharrell on the pitch who have that individual quality to do what he did with the free-kick, it is nice to have that in the armoury.
“We have seen it in training loads from Pharrell once coming in off the left. It is the same angle for the free-kick, albeit a dead ball, we have seen him bend them into top corners during training, so it was really nice for two new signings in Zane and Pharrell to get off the mark.”
The Tigers’ attention now turns to their opening Premier League Cup group fixture at home to Leicester City on Friday. Welcoming the Premier League 2 side to the Dransfield Stadium, Clarke knows the team will be expecting a different test to the one against QPR.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” explained Clarke. “We’ll take the positives from this game and we have a game Friday, which will be a really tough game against a very good category one team.
“It will be a different aspect. There will be times where we will have to defend really well, but there are times when in possession we have got to be better on the ball, because I thought we could have been better against QPR, certainly when they went down to 10-men.
"It is going to be another game for the lads, another game to show how good they can be and to improve on their consistency, and it is another game for us to prepare them for. Hopefully, we can go out there with the same intent and aggression that we did against QPR.”
